Chapter C15
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Compilation on Countenances -- Independent Prophets and Dependent/Lesser Prophets, who are all the Face of God.
1)
Countenance [of God] as applicable to Bahá'u'lláh, an Independent Prophet.
XI. All glory be to this Day, the Day in which the fragrances of mercy
have been wafted over all created things, a Day so blest that past ages
and centuries can never hope to rival it, a Day in which the
countenance of the Ancient of Days hath turned towards His holy seat.
Thereupon the voices of all created things, and beyond them those of
the Concourse on high, were heard calling aloud: "Haste thee, O Carmel,
for lo, the light of the countenance of God, the Ruler of the Kingdom
of Names and Fashioner of the heavens, hath been lifted upon thee."
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 14
VII. Verily I say, this is the Day in which mankind can behold the
Face, and hear the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath
been raised, and the light of His countenance hath been lifted up upon
men. It behoveth every man to blot out the trace of every idle word
from the tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an open and unbiased
mind, on the signs of His Revelation, the proofs of His Mission, and
the tokens of His glory.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 10
2)
Countenance [of God] as applicable to the Bab, an Independent Prophet.
GOD testifieth that there is none other God but Him. His are the
kingdoms in the heavens and on the earth and all that is between them.
He is exalted above the comprehension of all things, and is inscrutable
to the mind of every created being; none shall be able to fathom the
oneness of His Being or to unravel the nature of His Existence. No peer
or likeness, no similitude or equal can ever be joined with Him. Yield
ye praise then unto Him and glorify Him and bear ye witness to the
sanctity and oneness of His Being and magnify His might and majesty
with wondrous glorification. This will enable you to gain admittance
into the all-highest Paradise. Would that ye had firm faith in the
revelation of the signs of God.
This is the divinely-inscribed Book. This is the outspread Tablet. Say,
this indeed is the Frequented Fane, the sweet-scented Leaf, the Tree of
divine Revelation, the surging Ocean, the Utterance which lay
concealed, the Light above every light... Indeed every light is
generated by God through the power of His behest. He of a truth is the
Light in the kingdom of heaven and earth and whatever is between them.
Through the radiance of His light God imparteth illumination to your
hearts and maketh firm your steps, that perchance ye may yield praise
unto Him.
Say, this of a certainty is the Garden of Repose, the loftiest Point of
adoration, the Tree beyond which there is no passing, the blessed
Lote-Tree, the Most Mighty Sign, the most beauteous Countenance and the
most comely Face.
-- The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 154
3)
Countenance [of God] as applicable to Moses, an Independent Prophet.
Although the commentators of the Qur'án have related in divers manners
the circumstances attending the revelation of this verse, yet thou
shouldst endeavor to apprehend the purpose thereof. He saith: How false
is that which the Jews have imagined! How can the hand of Him Who is
the King in truth, Who caused the countenance of Moses to be made
manifest, and conferred upon Him the robe of Prophethood--how can the
hand of such a One be chained and fettered? How can He be conceived as
powerless to raise up yet another Messenger after Moses?
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 23
4)
The
following passage on the "station of pure abstraction and essential
unity" of the Manifestations of God includes Muhammad, Adam, Noah,
Moses and Jesus, who are Independent Prophets; and Ali [Imam Ali] and
the Imams, who were Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhummad; all of whom are "Countenances", "recipients of the Divine Command", and
"day-springs of His Revelation".
These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station.
One is the station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this
respect, if thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them
the same attributes, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He
hath revealed: "No distinction do We make between any of His
Messengers." For they, one and all, summon the people of the earth to
acknowledge the unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an
infinite grace and bounty. They are all invested with the robe of prophethood,
and are honored with the mantle of glory. Thus hath Muhammad, the Point
of the Qur'án, revealed: "I am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith:
"I am the first Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have
been made by Imam Ali. Sayings such as these, which indicate the essential unity of those Exponents of Oneness,
have also emanated from the Channels of God's immortal utterance, and
the Treasuries of the gems of Divine knowledge, and have been recorded
in the Scriptures. These Countenances
are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the Day Springs of His
Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and
the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: "Our Cause is but One."
Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents thereof also
must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imams of the Muhammadan Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: "Muhammad is our first, Muhammad is our last, Muhammad our all."
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 50
5)
Imam Ali,
the first Dependent Prophet of Muhammad, the Countenance of holiness.
Say I swear by God! They to whom you attribute knowledge and have
accepted them as your divines they are in the sight of God the worst of
men nay the quintessence of evil flees from them. Thus has the matter
been inscribed in the scrolls of God's knowledge. We testify that they
have not drunk from the fountains of knowledge and they have not
attained unto a word of Wisdom and have not become aware of the
mysteries of Revelation and have been racing in the land of their
selfish desires. Nothing of rejection and denial against a prophet or a
successor of a prophet has come to pass except after their permission.
Thus has always been their injunction carried out on the Countenances
of holiness.
Say to them: O ignorant ones! Did We not reveal in the past: "A Day
that God shall come in the canopies of clouds."[4] How is it that when
He came down in the clouds of Revelation in the Temple of 'Ali [Imam
Ali], you turned away and rejected Him and waxed haughty and brought
about your own perdition?[5] Was it not also revealed in your Book:
" the Day when Thy Lord comes or certain of the signs of Thy Lord."[6]
And when He did come with evident signs wherefore did ye turn away from
those signs and veiled yourselves with the veils of self?..
[4] Qur'án 2:210.
[5] Qur'án 25:18 and 48:12.
[6] Qur'an 6:158.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih-i-Sabr (Lawh-i-Ayyúb), Surih of Patience or Tablet of Job -- (translation by K. Fananapazir)
2:208. O ye who believe! enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow
not the footsteps of the Evil One; for he is to you an avowed enemy.
2:209. If ye backslide after the clear (signs) have come to you, then know that Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.
2:210. Will they wait until Allah comes to them in canopies of clouds,
with angels (in His train) and the question is (thus) settled? But to
Allah do all questions go back (for decision).
2:211. Ask the Children of Israel how many Clear (Signs) We have sent
them. But if anyone, after Allah's favor has come to him, substitutes
(something else), Allah is strict in punishment.
2:212. The life of this world is alluring to those who reject faith,
and they scoff at those who believe. But the righteous will be above
them on the Day of Resurrection; for Allah bestows His abundance
without measures on whom He will.
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 2.
The Holy Qur'án hath testified that true Faith is recognition of divine unity and confession to both the Prophet [recognition of Muhammad, the Independent Prophet, the Manifestation of God] and the Imámate [recognition of the Holy Imams, the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad, the Manifestations of God].
He who attaineth unto both hath fulfilled his faith. A true believer is
the one who does not reject any matter pertaining to Us, for God
Himself hath dilated His Breast such that He may accept all. He will
not doubt or be mistrustful. He who cavileth why and wherefore becometh
a disbeliever. We are, verily, the Cause of God![15]
-- Imam Ali, The Sermon of Ma'rifat bin-Nurániyyat (Recognition with Luminousness). Translation by K. Fananapazir.
6)
"Those countenances which are
hid within the chambers of chastity" and "the manifestations of Thy
Divine holiness", the pre-existent Dependent Prophets of Bahá'u'lláh.
Lauded be Thy name, O Thou Who art the Goal of my desire! I swear by
Thy glory! How great is my wish to attain unto a detachment so complete
that were there to appear before me those countenances which are hid
within the chambers of chastity, and the beauty of which Thou didst
veil from the eyes of the entire creation, and whose faces Thou didst
sanctify from the sight of all beings,and were they to unveil
themselves in all the glory of the splendors of Thine incomparable
beauty, I would refuse to look upon them, and would behold them solely
for the purpose of discerning the mysteries of Thy handiwork, which
have perplexed the minds of such as have drawn nigh unto Thee, and awed
the souls of all them that have recognized Thee. I would, by Thy power
and Thy might, soar to such heights that nothing whatsoever would have
the power to keep me back from the manifold evidences of Thy
transcendent dominion, nor would any earthly scheme shut me out from
the manifestations of Thy Divine holiness.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations, p. 337
7)
Countenance of the Maid of Heaven, the Dependent
Prophet of Bahá'u'lláh. "Step out of Thy holy chamber" -- the pre-existent Dependent Prophet is summoned to appear on earth.
Say: Step out of Thy holy chamber, O Maid of Heaven, inmate of the
Exalted Paradise! Drape thyself in whatever manner pleaseth Thee in the
silken Vesture of Immortality, and put on, in the name of the
All-Glorious, the broidered Robe of Light. Hear, then, the sweet, the
wondrous accent of the Voice that cometh from the Throne of Thy Lord,
the Inaccessible, the Most High. Unveil Thy face, and manifest the
beauty of the black-eyed Damsel, and suffer not the servants of God to
be deprived of the light of Thy shining countenance. Grieve not if Thou
hearest the sighs of the dwellers of the earth, or the voice of the
lamentation of the denizens of heaven. Leave them to perish on the dust
of extinction. Let them be reduced to nothingness, inasmuch as the
flame of hatred hath been kindled within their breasts. Intone, then,
before the face of the peoples of earth and heaven, and in a most
melodious voice, the anthem of praise, for a remembrance of Him Who is
the King of the names and attributes of God. Thus have We decreed Thy destiny. Well able are We to achieve Our purpose...
Cry out before the gaze of the dwellers of heaven and of earth: I am
the Maid of Heaven, the Offspring begotten by the Spirit of Bahá. My
habitation is the Mansion of His Name, the All-Glorious. Before the
Concourse on high I was adorned with the ornament of His names. I was
wrapt within the veil of an inviolable security, and lay hidden from
the eyes of men. Methinks that I heard a Voice of divine and
incomparable sweetness, proceeding from the right hand of the God of
Mercy, and lo, the whole Paradise stirred and trembled before Me, in
its longing to hear its accents, and gaze on the beauty of Him that
uttered them. Thus have We revealed in this luminous Tablet, and in the
sweetest of languages, the verses which the Tongue of Eternity was
moved to utter in the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá.
Say: He ordaineth as He pleaseth, by virtue of His sovereignty, and
doeth whatsoever He willeth at His own behest. He shall not be asked of
the things it pleaseth Him to ordain. He, in truth, is the
Unrestrained, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.
They that have disbelieved in God and rebelled against His sovereignty
are the helpless victims of their corrupt inclinations and desires.
These shall return to their abode in the fire of hell: wretched is the
abode of the deniers!
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 282 (Gleanings CXXIX).
8)
Countenance of Bahá'u'lláh (the Maid of Heaven), the Independent Prophet:
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Whereupon the maid of heaven [Bahá'u'lláh] looked out from her exalted chamber,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And with her brow signed to the Celestial Concourse,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Flooding with the light of her countenance the heaven and the earth,
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner.
9)
Countenance of the Dependent
Prophet of Bahá'u'lláh -- "Thereupon the countenance of the favored
damsel beamed above the celestial chambers even as the light that
shineth from the face of the Youth above His mortal temple". The Youth
is Baha'u'llah. "she rose to her full height in the midmost heart of
creation" refers to the declaration of the Dependent Prophet, similar
to the description in the subsequent passage.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon she [the Maid of Heaven, Baha'u'llah, the Independent
Prophet] summoned unto herself one maiden [one Dependent Prophet of
Baha'u'llah] from her handmaidens,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And commanded her: "Descend into space [appear on earth] from the mansions of eternity,...
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon the countenance of the favored damsel beamed above the
celestial chambers even as the light that shineth from the face of the
Youth above His mortal temple;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then descended with such an adorning as to illumine the heavens and all that is therein.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She bestirred herself and perfumed all things in the lands of holiness and grandeur.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
When she reached that place she rose to her full height in the midmost heart of creation,
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner.
By the righteousness of God! The world's horizon is resplendent with
the light of the Most Great Luminary, yet the generality of mankind
perceive it not. Verily He Who is the Sovereign Truth moveth before the
eyes of all men. Unto this beareth witness the One Who is proclaiming
in the midmost heart of the world, 'In truth no God is there but Me,
Omnipotent over all things, whether of the past or of the future.'
Great is the blessedness of the believer who hath directed himself
towards Him and hath gained admittance into His presence, and woe
betide every disbeliever who hath turned away from God and followed the
wayward and the outcast.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 235
10)
The immortal countenance, the Prophet. The "divine assayers" is also a reference to the Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah.
... For ages and centuries they settled and dwelt in that pleasant and
spiritual station, in that divine and holy rose garden, with perfect
joy and happiness.
Then the gales of divine tests and the winds of lordly temptation blew
from the Sheba of the everlasting Cause. They became distracted by the
beauty of the wine server and grew heedless of the immortal countenance,
to the extent that they imagined the shadow to be the sun and phantoms
to be light. They set out for the ladders of the greatest name so that
they might scale those heavens and arrive at that seat and place. When
they rose toward it, the divine assayers descended upon them with the sacred touchstone, by the irresistible decree of the lord. When these emissaries did not perceive the scent [fragrance] of the spiritual youth, they forbade entry to all. Afterwards, there occurred what is inscribed upon the guarded tablet.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner (from the Persian). A provisional translation by Juan Cole.
1.93
Ye, however, have broken the Covenant of God, forgotten His Testament,
and at last turned away from Him Whose appearance hath solaced the eyes
of every true believer in the Divine Unity. Lift up the veils and
coverings that obscure your vision, and consider the testimonies of the
Prophets and Messengers, that haply ye may recognize the Cause of God
in these days when the Promised One hath come invested with a mighty
sovereignty. Fear God, and debar yourselves not from Him Who is the
Dayspring of His signs. This shall, in truth, but profit your own
selves; as to your Lord, He, verily, can afford to dispense with all
creatures. From everlasting was He alone; there was none else besides
Him. He it is in Whose name the standard of Divine Unity hath been
planted upon the Sinai of the visible and invisible worlds, proclaiming
that there is none other God but Me, the Peerless, the Glorious, the
Incomparable.
1.94
Behold, however, how those who are but a creation of His Will and
Command have turned aside from Him and have taken unto themselves a
lord and master beside God; these, truly, are of the wayward. The
mention of the All-Merciful hath at all times been upon their lips, and
yet when He was manifested unto them through the power of truth they
warred against Him. Wretched indeed shall be the plight of such as have
broken the Covenant of their Lord when the Luminary of the world shone
forth above the horizon of the Will of God, the Most Holy, the
All-Knowing, the All-Wise! It was against God that they unsheathed the
swords of malice and hatred, and yet they perceive it not. Methinks
they remain dead and buried in the tombs of their selfish desires,
though the breeze of God hath blown over all regions. They, truly, are
wrapt in a dense and grievous veil. And oft as the verses of God are
rehearsed unto them, they persist in proud disdain; it is as though
they were devoid of all understanding, or had never heard the Call of
God, the Most Exalted, the All-Knowing.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 49
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